Made a file for a friend in illustrator. Saved as EPS, two color. First time they sent the file to the printer they said they needed the font's outlined. Did that and re-sent it. Next time around they said they had to re-create the entire file, stating it's not "vector".

This was a first for me so I'm wondering what is going on, does the printer being difficult, because he's charging more now saying he had to re-create all the art, when in fact this was made in illustrator, all vector, 300dpi, font's embedded.

I'll upload the file too if that helps. Somewhat discouraged at this point cause the printer is not being friendly and making things very difficult.

"when in fact this was made in illustrator, all vector, 300dpi, font's embedded."

What type of file is it? A business card? Letterhead? tShirt? 300dpi? Number one, if you're sending out an EPS file with live fonts, then you have to send the fonts, too. 300dpi is a very low output resolution. Your file's output res should be a minimum of 2540dpi. If you're referring to raster res; then it's 300ppi.

Yes, the printer is giving you a hard time and you're getting ripped off to boot. Sounds like an online vendor. Dump them and go with someone local. The crap cost you just wasted is increasing the entire cost of the job. Had you gone to someone local, you probably would have paid a little more, but then you wouldn't be hassled, either. Look into how to produce print-ready PDF's.

A design for a shirt. It was done at 300dpi resolution. I've sent files to dozens of other printers for people and this is the first incident where it turned bad. The printer is local, not an online vendor. When asked for spec, none was given, instead my friend said the printer just re-made the design (rather poorly) and ran the print, it came out ok but there are some parts that don't look like the original.

Rather than be difficult and secrative why not be helpfull and show/communiucate, that way the job could have gotten done better and both parties would learn more.

When I exported the EPS it asked to embed the font. Nothing asked for 2540dpi, nothing was rasterised either. Thanks for your input.

Why "Export" at all? Why not: Save As > EPS? Better yet, Print > Save As PDF? If I'm not mistaken, if you Exported, you rasterized...hence the 300ppi. Screen printers need solids for screen making. They can accept tints and halftones, but many do not have the mesh available to make it work. I'd have to see the file in order to troubleshoot what went wrong. The entire scenario sounds a bit weird to me.

My appologies, wrong terminology. I am using Save As > EPS, not file > export. I was never given spec, I was not told about screen printing, tints, halftones, simply asked to design a simple logo for a event with some art. It sounds weird probably because it is weird. I think the printer wanted to charge more by making up stories by saying that everything had to be re-done in order for it to print. I'd gladly send you the file for you to look at. It would give me some piece of mind knowing I did this correctly at least and that the printer was inedeed being difficult.

This sounds pretty fishy to me. So fishy that I'm wondering if there's a miscommunication going on here. Bottom line, if you sent them an .EPS that you personally verified that is still in a vector format, then there is no reason they would need to re-build the entire file in order to vectorize it.

If they did this without asking if it was ok to charge first then I would 100% dispute the charge and refuse to pay.

There are things you may have to fix in a file even if it is still vectors ( like spot colors mixing with transparency, blacks that are not 100% black but a 4-color build, things knocking out that shouldn't be, etc.) but I'd never fix it and charge without asking first.